DETROIT – During Sunday’s game, Nick Markakis turned to manager Buck Showalter and complained he had a hard time picking up fly balls. Markakis had been used to seeing a background of empty green seats. Now, there are fans sitting there.

“He was talking about having trouble seeing the ball. He said there's a lot of orange. He said he's used to having that good, green background.” Showalter said. “He said, 'That's a good thing, right?' And I said, ‘Yep, that's a good thing.'”

Markakis may have to get used to bigger crowds. So far this season, Orioles attendance is up more than 3,000 a game, the third largest increase in baseball.

On Sunday, season attendance passed the 1 million mark, and crowds are averaging 28,819. That projects to about to about 2.33 million fans at Oriole Park, which would be the largest since 2005 and a gain of more than 200,000 over 2012.

Markakis joined the Orioles in 2006, when attendance fell nearly half a million.